let me finish tonight with the circular firing squad now assembled in the republican party.

let me start at the beginning. the republican party began in the years heading occupy the civil war as a merger. you had the wiig party. the abolitionists. ready to make practical political decisions like running popular generals to win presidencies. the abolitionists were the true bebelievers. in the 1860s they all got together behind abraham lincoln. the party is still split in two. they're willing to bend a little to get better. abolitionists on the right are forged together in principle. they don't want people to come into this country living here illegally. certainly not as full citizens. they'd just as soon they were headed back to the countries they came from. as for gay marriage they'd as soon there weren't gays, period. my bet is that the political marriage of these two groups, the karl rove crowd who love winning elections and the abolitionist wing who'd rathder fight thand switch are in for a

prolonged separation. progressives, enjoy it while it lasts. 2014 will be tough but once these two gangs, the palin and rove crowds have to meet again in 2016 it's not going to be pretty. it sure as hell isn't going to be marriage. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, ten years after the start of the iraq war, too many on the right still don't get it. ten years ago tonight president bush announced the u.s. had started bombing iraq. he did this despite the millions of us who marched in the streets demanding that he stop beating the drums of war. the bush administration sold the war using the worst kinds of falsehoods and fearmongering. >> but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

>> the checks alleged that the attacker met in prague with a senior iraqi intelligence official. >> iraq recently sought significant quantities of uranium from africa. >> bush and his crew misled america about virtually every aspect of this war. >> my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. >> we're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon. >> in the battle of iraq, the united states and our allies have prevailed. >> mission accomplished turned into a national tragedy. with unimaginable costs. nearly 4,500 americans were killed in the war. over 32,000 americans were wounded. left maimed or crippled by bush's war. in 2002 before the war began, a young state senator named barack

obama came out to oppose the invasion of iraq. at a time when few politicians on the left were showing that kind of courage. when he was running for president a few years later, he promised to end the iraq war, and in 2011, he did. >> as president, i want us to fight on the right battlefield. and what that means is getting out of iraq. >> the long war in iraq will come to an end by the end of this year. across america, our servicemen and women will be reunited with their families. today, i can say that our troops in iraq will definitely be home for the holidays. >> our troops are home. the iraq war is over. but today too many republicans haven't learned the lessons of this tragedy. dick cheney himself says he has no regrets. >> it is a wartime situation.

it was more important to be successful than it was to be loved. if i had to do it over again, i would do it in a minute. >> and here's what a new republican congressman, a veteran considered a rising star in the party, said just last week. >> are we fighting too many wars? and i would say no. we're fighting one war. and it's a war against radical islamic jihad. final question is, can we afford this war? the answer is yes, we can afford it. >> he's wrong. the truth is, we are fighting too many wars. and we can't afford any more. every dollar spent on a bomb in iraq was a dollar not spent here at home. a dollar not spent on books for our children. a dollar not spent on food for the hungry or medicine for the sick. we spent ten years trying to build a nation in iraq. it's time to do some nation building here at home. joining me now is former

democratic congressman, patrick murphy. he was the first iraq war veteran to serve in congress. and richard wolffe, msnbc.com executive editor. thank you both for joining me. >> thanks, reverend. >> congressman, you served there. what are your thoughts tonight about this war that bush and cheney led us into? >> well, reverend, it still breaks my heart. the fact is, when i was there ten years ago, i lost 19 men in my unit. >> 19. >> 19 men in my unit. of the almost 4,500 we lost total. not one person in the bush administration has been held accountable. not one. they haven't even apologized. i mean, it was one of the biggest strategic catastrophes in our nation's history. our troops did an amazing e ini. they did the job they could do. but they were shorthanded. the american public was misled in this war. they completely said it was about 9/11, a connection. then they said it was about

weapons of mass destruction. neither of which was true. neither of which our own intelligence agency said it wasn't true. you know i served on the intelligence committee in the congress. >> i wanted you to walk through that slowly. you were in the intelligence committee. the intelligence was saying it is not true in terms of weapons of mass destruction. they went ahead anyway. 4,500 of our men and women lost their lives. and mr. cheney says i have no regrets. >> right. of course, that's mr. cheney who when it was his generation's war in vietnam got four deferments and said i had better things to do. but it was my generation who was serving when he was really quick to get us in wars that were unnecessary and had no connection to 9/11 and afghanistan. >> now, richard, i think that when i talked about the fearmongering, in the aftermath of 9/11, people were absolutely on edge. >> sure, they were. >> absolutely nervous. so you could understand people being misled. and some of us that were out early against this war were

looked upon with great disdain. >> yep. >> but here we are today ten years later, and you still have senators like mccain and graham who today are saying that we should be part of the same kind of policy in syria. let me show you what they said. the provision of arms to vetted syrian opposition groups, targeted strikes against assad's aircraft and scud missile batteries on the ground and the establishment of safe zones inside syria to protect civilians and opposition groups. ten years after the start of iraq war, they're rattling the sabers again. >> right. so we've got to put this into a bit of context here. because syria, look, there isn't iraq or nothing. >> right. >> iraq has to be put into its context. john mccain and lindsey graham were two of the cheerleaders even before bush came in, right? there was a whole group of them in the senate saying we needed to invade iraq.

along the way when they realized there were no weapons of mass destruction, when they realized this was a complete quagmire, the thing they said it would never be, what they actually said was toent worry about it because we've got another rationale here. we're going to spread democracy. remember? freedom on the march? this is a language they don't understand. culture they don't understand. where having a large foreign invasion has a long and sad track record of failure. now, that's not to say it cannot be done. you know, look at the different kind of model that this administration took when it came to libya. right? we can actually help people on the ground and do so in a way that does not jeopardize american lives and can respect the culture. if you're going to push democracy it needs to come from people on the ground. so i don't think -- >> and we haven't even talked about the amount of lives of the iraqi people that were lost. >> right. so there are other ways that america has to stay engaged in the world, promote democracy, including in the arab and the muslim world, where we are dealing with jihadi syria.

there may be a very strong humanitarian case. but it most definitely isn't the iraq model. the first step for people like john mccain is to admit and to understand how they went wrong and why they went wrong. america cannot introduce democracy at the point of a gun. >> and to continue to try to do it even now. that's why i brought it up. i want to go back to you, congressman, because you brought up about former vice president cheney getting four deferments and not fighting in vietnam. but sending your generation to war in iraq. there was a new documentary about him. i want you to look at this exchange that he had with the interviewer in the documentary. >> what do you consider your main fault? >> my main fault. well, i don't spend a lot of time thinking about my faults, i guess would be the answer. >> now, i don't want to go back

to our views on cheney. when you mention your generation, in this new generation of concerns, do you think they see cheney's faults, or are they overlooking it and they're ready to go into syria or wherever and the same kind of attitude that cheney had? >> you're right. the new generation of republicans and the ones who served, they think dick cheney's a hero. and that's what gives me such great discomfort. it's like we didn't learn our lesson from vietnam or iraq. and it's like richard said, it has to be organic. we all want democracy everywhere. but it has to be organic. we can't go around starting unnecessary wars. it's like you said, reverend. when you have john mccain and lindsey graham cheerleading for us to go and bomb iran, for us to be in syria and when our own military experts, if you know, the general -- the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is general martin dempsey. i served under him in iraq. he has said we got to be careful

before we send arms and put our men in harm's way in syria, because it is a syria war. it's hezbollah versus hamas. neither of which are friendly to us. >> again, richard, saying we don't understand the culture, when you look back ten years ago tonight, was we went into this, look at the costs. $1.7 trillion. >> right. >> benefits owed to war veterans, $490 billion. i mean, how can republicans who put this war on a credit card now say we need to tighten our belt and cut programs for the poor and working class? >> that's a great point. you know, the bush administration fired the economic adviser who said that the iraq war would cost about $100 billion. because they thought it was too much. they got it wrong about iraq. they also said, by the way, the iraq that had been invaded by america would become an ally against iran. they got that wrong, too. it's not just about the cost. strategic judgments were wrong. when dick cheney says it's more important to be successful than

to be liked, he wasn't successful. his premise failed. from the beginning it failed. in the middle it failed and in the end. >> he certainly wasn't successful, and i'm not sure he's liked. >> when you talk about the costs, by the way, a lot of those costs are being bourn on the back of our reverends. just after sequestration happened they just cut over 330,000 veterans, current members of our military right now, they just cut their benefits when it comes to tuition assistance. >> after they sent them to war. they cut and they hit their families, scholarships for children of troops who died in iraq or afghanistan. 38% cut up to $2,134 less per scholarship. that's the thanks they get. >> right. >> in a situation that was totally unfounded. i'm going to have to leave it there. congressman murphy, richard wolffe, thanks for your time tonight. ahead, something happened today that nobody could have predicted a year ago. how is rand paul helping the obama agenda?

and big news on the gun safety fight today. a major development that we really need to talk about. plus, a civil war of epic proportions is unfolding inside the republican party. and rush limbaugh is on fire. one more thing before we go to break today. on the tenth anniversary of the iraq war, i think it's important we look back on the history that was chronicled in a war zone. something that has always struck me are the photos taken by samantha appleton. she covered the first three years of the war for "the new yorker" magazine and "time" magazine. and in my mind, very few have captured what came out of her camera. and her work. no one better than samantha. her images are some of the most memorable and searing snapshots. we've got more on why it's a day to remember, especially our brave men and women who fought

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have you joined the "politics nation" conversation on facebook yet? we hope you will. today, people had a lot to say about the legacy of the iraq war ten years later. elizabeth says, makes me sick to think how fooled many americans were. so glad president obama was not one of them. martin says, it's a sad day for many of us who served in iraq. janet says, so many died and so many have come home injured. changing their lives forever. this should have never happened. we want to hear your thoughts about the war. head over to facebook and search "politics nation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. [ coughs ] [ angry gibberish ]

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there's big news today on the gun control fight in washington. senate democrats are dropping the assault weapons ban from their main bill on guns. instead, it will get a separate vote on its own. but with lower hopes for success. senator harry reid says he made the move to avoid republican obstruction. >> i want people to have the ability to vote on assault weapons, mental health, safety

in schools, federal trafficking, clips, everything. but i cannot do that until i get a bill on the floor. i want something that will succeed. >> something that will succeed. the rest of the country wants that, too. in fact, a majority of americans, 57%, support an assault weapons ban. but apparently some in washington think that's not good enough. nearly 2,800 people have been shot and killed since the newtown tragedy. 2,800 reasons for our elected officials in washington to show some political courage. the time is now. americans want to move forward. lawmakers in both parties should move forward with the rest of the country. joining me now are mia malika-henderson and margie omar

ra. thank you for your time. >> malika, what's behind this on assault weapons? why did it happen? i'm not sure i agree with this. >> yeah. i think you heard senator reid say it when he said he wants something to succeed. the assault weapons ban in some ways was a poison pill. if that was added to this bill, it's likely that it would go down to defeat. it's likely that many democrats, especially democrats in red states, would not support this bill. remember, the president in his state of the union address, over and over again, he said that what he wanted for those kids slain in newtown and pendleton, all those other people killed by gun violence, to at least get a vote. bring a bill o tto the floor an get a vote. that looks like what will happen. there's still some disagreement about what will be the main focus of the bill. will it be gun trafficking or will it be background checks. but the white house is certainly pleased that there is movement

on this. and i don't think the white house is surprised that the assault weapons ban has been dropped and will be able to -- you know, people will be able to vote for it as a separate amendment. and i think lots of democrats, especially, again, those in those red states, will actually vote against the assault weapons ban. but they will support this bill in large part because of the background checks, because of the tightening of restrictions around gun trafficking. and i think you'll be able to get some republicans to support that, too. >> margie, you know, the senate's gun safety proposals, here are the proposals that are heading to a vote on the floor next month. gun trafficking and straw purchasing. expanding background checks. money for school security. magazines carrying more than ten rounds. assault weapons ban. these are things that are going to the floor either together or separately. did democrats sacrifice assault weapons in order to win support for these other measures? if so, did they really need to

do that? >> well, i think you've heard the white house say a couple hours ago we're still going to fight for this. so i would say it's too early to say assault weapons ban is off the table and it's over. there is still going to be a vote. the white house still has prioritized it. there are still people really fighting for it. i'm not surprised that this happened, but it's unfortunate that the politics hasn't quite moved as quickly as we see public opinion. because public opinion actually, a poll you showed, "the washington post"/abc poll, a majority support assault weapons ban. two-thirds of women and half of men support that ban from that poll. actually, 43% of republicans support an assault weapons ban. so it's really less controversial in the public than it is here in washington. so it's a shame that we're having this debate. because this is something that actually a lot of people support. so i think as you're -- we're going to continue to have this debate, and i'm optimistic that we can continue to show that this is something that people really support.

>> now, we also have immigration moving forward. the gop senator rand paul today implicitly endorsed a path to citizenship. and i emphasize implicitly. but i think it's significant. let me play what he said. >> i think the conversation needs to start by acknowledging that we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants. if you -- if you wish to work w, if you wish to live and work in america, then we will find a place for you. >> now, nia-malika, isn't that momentum when you start seeing a right wing senator like this using this kind of rhetoric? tea party guy like rand paul? >> yes. i mean, this is a big surprise. that you have democrats and republicans really from both wings of the party, the far

right as well as the far left, singing from the same prayer book on immigration. as you said, he implicitly seemed to support a pathway to citizenship. i think his aides later on sort of backed off of that and said they -- they support green cards. that really is the debate that i think you're going to have happen between republicans and democrats. are they for a full pathway to citizenship. the problem with that for republicans is that republicans hear citizenship, and they hear amnesty. then in their mind they also think that there are going to be lots of immigrants who are getting welfare, who are getting -- who are getting government benefits, and they don't want that to happen. so i think the white house is certainly pleased with where this is going. you have a bill probably that's going to be introduced next month in april, i think. it's a surprise that we're here. i think it's a surprise that we're talking about immigration. i think it's a surprise that we're still talking about gun control. >> but, you know, margie, reince

priebus, the chairman of the rnc, he said yesterday on cnn that romney's anti-immigration comments hurt the party. watch. >> one of the issues that i think really cut pretty badly within the hispanic community is when mitt romney talked about self-deportation. and, you know, it's a concept that really doesn't -- it's not our party's position. but it was something that i think hit every hispanic kitchen table across america. >> but i just want to tell you that he's wrong. it is the party's position. because if you read the party's platform, it says -- this is a direct quote from the republican party platform that was voted on and approved by the gop in august. quote, we will create human procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily. sounds like self-deportation to me. but i'm going to have to leave

it there, unfortunately. i want to thank nia-malika henderson and margie omera for your time tonight. ahead, rush says the gop is being suckered into changing. pop some popcorn, folks. the gop civil war is getting good. plus, republican leaders tell a whopper about who the party is really working for. that's next. hey. whassup. guten tag. greetings earthlings. what's crackalackin? it's great we express ourselves differently. if we were all the same, life would be boring. so get to know people who aren't like you. you'll appreciate what makes us different. the more you know. a talking car.

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senate minority leader mitch mcconnell wants everyone to know, the gop is not a party for the rich. >> don't tell me republicans are the party of millionaires and billionaires when obama's campaign arm is charging people a half a million dollars for a meeting over near the white house. we're for millionaires and billionaires? come on. >> come on! how could anyone possibly think republicans are the party of billionaires and millionaires? forget that a new study shows paul ryan's budget could cut millionaires' taxes by $200,000. and what a coincidence, eight of the ten largest individual donors of the 2012 election were republicans. and the american people must have it wrong, too.

a new poll finds 68% believe republicans favor the wealthy. senator mcconnell, this could be a problem. he's heading to palm beach this week for a fundraiser, hosted by hillary and wilbur ross. guess what? wilbur ross, say it with me, is a billionaire. did senator mcconnell think all the republicans' funny money would hide the truth about who they're really working for? nice try. but we got you. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. focus groups described our party as narrow minded. out of touch. and, quote, stuffy old men. >> it turns out the narrow minded, out of touch and stuffy old men really didn't like what rnc had to say about the party yesterday. and now the gop has a civil war

on its hands. the conservative national review is calling its recommendations shallow and opportunistic. donald trump is in on the act tweeting that the report was written by the ruling class of consultants who blew the election. short on ideas, just giving excuses to donors. that's right. even calling for the heads of the establishment. >> reince priebus was the head of the republican national committee when romney lost. why hasn't he been fired? karl rove ran the biggest independent pac in america, or one of them. he won 1.3% of his races. these losers are not going to save the republican party. >> wow. they usually save that kind of hate for democrats. but, of course, the loudest voice is coming from the most narrow minded of all the stuffy

old men. you know who i mean. >> so the republicans think that what they have to do in order to stop being criticized or mischaracterized is to get rid of what people are criticizing. they don't understand that they're being suckered into participating in their own official demise. >> republicans are being suckered into changing. keep telling yourself that, rush. joining me now is jonathan capehart and angela rai. thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you, rev. >> jonathan, let me start with you. how does the republican party move forward if the far right really wants to prevent them from doing so? >> it's really unclear. you know, as i wrote today, the first 12 pages of the growth and opportunity projects report are really brutal assessment of where the party has been, where it is right now and where it needs to go if it's not going to

continue to lose presidential elections to the democratic party. but they say a lot of good things. they also, i want to point out, say that they're not a policy committee. this is all sort of tone, tenor and cosmetics. you know, diagnosing the problem is the first step to recovery. it's proactively doing something to heal yourself that is going to be -- that is the issue. and if folks are squawking at the diagnosis right now, particularly the base of the party is squawking, i'm not quite sure and i don't have a whole lot of faith that the republican party is going to get well or mend itself any time soon. certainly not -- not in time for 2016. >> now, angela, when the tea party group freedom works, it slammed the rnc report saying the changes it suggests really would hurt tea party candidates.

the group's dregt tor sirector quote, they're trying to close the process so that upstart candidates, the one that they tell us can never with, can't even compete. it's a little bit like putting the genie back in the bottle. it just can't happen. i mean, angela, is this really what's at play here? is the establishment trying to break the tea party? >> perhaps the establishment is. i think even when you look at how they released this report, the timing of this report, rev, they just finished cpac. we spent all week looking at the sessions, what they were called, the pay tre the hatred being spewed at these events, the way people of color were treated. donald trump talking about immigration and it needing to be expanded for europeans and not so much people of color. then, lo and behold, the republican party decides it wants to rebrand itself the monday after cpac where all this hatred is being spewed and they want to reach out to people of color that they spent the entire

last week berating and beating down. demonstrating their prejudices are still right there intact and nothing has really changed. even the messaging is wrong. perhaps the establishment and tea party and some of the conservatives among them are not on the same page. >> jonathan, in an interview with politico the rnc chair said the party needs to get with american culture. interesting. take a listen. >> i think that our party's divorced itself of the american culture. that me included would make fun of the president for going on "the view." you've heard me say these things. talking hoops for a half an hour on espn. that's where a lot of america is at. i think we've got to get with it. >> a lot of the republican tea party types didn't like that. but who's right in this, jonathan? >> well, reince priebus is right. we've known this all along. when the president was being

criticized for doing all these things, we knew what he was doing. he was leapfrogging us in the media and going right to the american people where they are. watching "sports center" and watching "the view" and "leno" and "letterman" and all those things every day people do that aren't trapped here in the washington bubble. anyone who thinks that a republican presidential candidate or the republican party can continue to win presidential -- or try to win presidential elections without trying to be in sync with the american people that they spend so much time saying that they speak for, then they're never going to succeed. >> now, you know, angela, just in case after watching reince priebus, just before you think that maybe they're all getting back to some kind of sane position, let me show you donald trump weighed in today and what he had to say. it says that donald trump tweeted, sarah palin did a great

job. much of what she said was plain old common sense. so they haven't recovered totally over there yet, angela. >> no, they haven't. and he's wrong. it was plain and old. you know, reverend, at the end of the day these folks have got to acknowledge that even if reince priebus goes all jerry mcgwire on us, he loves black people and everybody else of color, we don't believe them. i know nowadays they're starting to understand jay-z and the lyrics. i'll give them a lyric. we don't believe you. you need more people. i'm just saying. >> let me go back to you, jonathan. but don't quote beyonce. it seems like the only thing the gop can unite on, though, jonathan, is the hatred for the president. one of the authors of the rnc autopsy said today, quote, we've got a socialist in office right now. how's that working for us? so they're still united in this venom against the president.

look at governor scott walker. he was talking about the president. it's the same old makers and takers rhetoric even from the establishment part of the republicans. look at this. >> what i've seen thus far suggests he does not care about truly balancing the budget. what i think we've seen increasingly is more of a political agenda and one in which he measures success by how many people are ultimately dependent on the government. >> same old kind of disparaging the president. that seems to be the only thing that unites them, jonathan. >> yeah. and it just shows how far the party has to go and the authors of that -- of the gop autopsy have to go to move their party away from being the scary, mean, you know, stuffy old people party or stuffy people party to one that, you know, accurately reflects the american people that they say they want to lead.

where the party is right now, what scott walker said, what henry barbour said, what rush limbaugh and donald trump are saying over these last few days will do nothing to help the republican party in its quest and in its goals. >> jonathan capehart and angela rye, thanks for coming on the show tonight. ahead, ten years after the bush/cheney war in iraq, it's time to fight for those who fought for this country. and the right wing won't stop blabbering about this photo. and president obama. that's next. [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest

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speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! ten years after the iraq war, dick cheney is talking about his faults. >> what do you consider your main fault? >> my main fault. well, i don't spend a lot of time thinking about my faults, i guess would be the answer. >> well, we do. especially today. that's coming up. cking the cream off these oreo cookies. that's stupid. you're wasting the best part. shuh, says the man without a helicopter. wait, don't go! [ male announcer ] choose your side at oreo.com. then i read an article about a study that looked at the long term health benefits of taking multivitamins. they used centrum silver for the study... so i guess my wife was right.

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we're back with the force behind the chaos inside the republican party. the right wing entertainment complex. it's the crew that just can't accept reality. they can't accept that president obama destroyed them.

twice. so they continue the derangement. and despite all the calls for change, they refuse to even think about it. if they want real change, it starts with the party challenging the propaganda wing. joining me now, david brock, founder of media matters for america. and joe madison, sirius/xm radio show host. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> joe, let me start with you. hours after the autopsy, sean hannity went on the air and said this. listen. >> republicans right now if they really want to not just symbolically, if they want to repeal health care, dr. carson, obama care, they've got to shut the government down and be labeled the full faith and credit of the united states is in jeopardy, which is not true, but if they really want to do that, that's what it will take. i want them to do it. >> he's calling for a government shutdown? i mean, this is the kind of talk

that gets from tv to congress. how can we make any progress if no one denounces this talk? i mean, with this kind of blabbering, can we get anything done, joe? >> yeah. cpac, crazy people acting crazy. that's exactly what the acronym should stand for. and i find it interesting, too, that they're talking to dr. carson. who i admire the accomplishments. but, you know, we ought to go back to his detroit days. i believe public housing. i believe public schools. i also believe he got into yale on affirmative action. all these programs, if he shut them down, there would be no dr. carson. and so the reality is that you're dealing with people who honestly are more concerned about sound bites, about appearing on television, as opposed to winning votes. i will give michael steele

credit. thank you, michael, for denouncing what rush limbaugh said. and more people in the republican party who we know, reverend, who are good republicans, who understand, two parties need -- we need two wings for the bird to fly properly, for the eagle to fly properly. >> oh, no. we need -- we need balance in the country. we need a two party system. no question. >> we need balance, absolutely. >> rush limbaugh, david, and others out there -- but i'm going to raise the same question to you. with all of this noise can we get anything done? because this noise seems to penetrate on the hill. >> oh, the noise definitely penetrates on the hill. we've seen a number of examples in recent years where members of congress, for example, senator lindsey graham on climate change, actually cited the role of fox news and talk radio in boxing the republicans in and making it impossible to reach across the aisle and to show any

progress on these issues. so there's definitely a relationship between their -- their major spokes people like rush limbaugh who set the tone for the republican party, don't forget, around the president's first inaugural when he said he wanted obama to fail, and still sets the tone as well as sean hannity. so, look, what everybody i think agrees here from limbaugh to the rnc chairman is that nobody wants to question the underlying philosophy that's at work. and so the debate really is about tactics and it's about window dressing. but the folks who are out front like limbaugh and hannity are really out of touch with this country. we've seen this country change in so many major ways in the last ten years. particularly culturally. and they are -- they are not the first candidates for your outreach to youth and your outreach to hispanics, that's for sure. >> now, when you look at glenn beck, joe, he's tweeting how the satan character in the bible mini series look like president

obama. and his quote was, anyone else think the devil in "the bible" sunday on history channel looks exactly like that guy? then rush limbaugh picked it up on -- he picked the smear up. he says, it does -- let me play him saying what he said. >> it does look very, very, very much like a figure that we see daily in washington, d.c. the question that sprang to everybody's mind is if satan had a son, would he look like the guy? >> i mean, this kind of venom is way beyond disagreeing on politics. even passionately disagreeing. trying to demonize the president over and over again. i mean, how in this climate do we take care of the american people? >> well, the american people have to take care of them. that's really the issue.

the american people have to take care of them. they've got a block of supporters, a block of listeners, a block that appears on arbitron or it appears on some rating. and it's really a small block. most people will tell you that. it's not the vast majority. all you have to do is look at the polls on gun control legislation, same-sex marriage. they are so far out of step. but, you know, this just goes to prove something we always say. apparently, all black guys look alike. i mean, this is a moroccan actor who had played this role before. i watched that series. and i must tell you, sitting there watching it, "the bible" series, obama never crossed my mind. >> no, no. >> never crossed my mind. >> i didn't get to watch it on the tv. but i saw and it never crossed my mind either. let me show it's not just the president. media matters reports on how fox news repeatedly reported on an

alleged prostitution scandal involving new jersey democratic senator robert menendez. but now several sources, including the associationed press, report the three women lied. according to media matters, fox news completely ignored the a.p. report during the march 15th primetime programming after they had continued over and over and over again to play up the alleged scandal before it was discredited, joe. david, let me go to you on this since it's media matters. >> sure. what you have here is a kind of food chain. and the -- the lowest on the food chain is something like the daily caller. and the daily caller prints opposition research from the republican party. we know that because we know that this phony menendez story was shopped elsewhere before they dumped it on "the daily caller." "the daily caller" just ran with it. now the story is totally

imploding. fox gave lift and life to that story once it was "the daily caller." now they're ignoring the retraction. what you have here is there's not a lot of places for folks to go and get their reputation back. >> that's what's the sad part. i'm going to have to leave it there. we're out of time. david, joe, thank you for your time tonight. >> any time. >> thank you very much. iraq, ten years later. why i fought against the war from day one. and why our brave troops who fought in the war need our help now. [ coughs ]

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[ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away in the back of our mind. a secret hope. that thing we've always wanted to do. it's not about having dreams, it's about reaching them. ♪ an ally for real possibilities. aarp. find tools and direction at aarp.org/possibilities. finally, we need to remember what happened both before and after america went to war in iraq ten years ago tonight. many people were fooled by president bush's falsehoods about the war. posing that the